Apparatus for treating cheese



Dec. 7, 1948. o. F. HENSELJ 2,455,579

I APPARATUS FOR TREATING CHEESE Filed Au 21, 194.4v

5e I 7 A TTORA/EYS.

Patented Dec- 7, 1948 UNITED. STATES PATENT OFFICE a 5 2,455,519 a j QTtZT HZ-Zfimra, Wis. s

The present invention relates generally to improvements in the art of treating cheese, and

of such products.

In the manufacture of "Roquefort type cheese. commonly known as blue cheese, the interior of which abounds with so-called friendly bacterial growth in the form of flakes of mold, it is necessary in order to preserve the mold, to expose the same to the ambient atmosphere. If this is not done, the bacteria become dormant and the cheese will spoil, and in order to provide for such atmospheric exposure it has heretofore been customary to punch holes into the cakes or blocks of the commodity having the normally concealed mold flakes embedded therein. Due to the relatively brittle nature of such cheese, the perforating operation if not properly performed, will cause the cakes to split, and it has also been extremely difficult with the priorhand puncturing methods, to uniformly and properly perforate the relatively compact and solid bodies of cheese.

, It is therefore a more specific object of this invention to provide improved instrumentalities for rapidly and thoroughly aerating blue cheese or the like, in an expeditious manner.

Another specific object of the present invention also be conveniently maintained in highly sanitary condition.

Still another specific object of the invention is to provide a simple, compact and durable cheese perforating device which may be operated by a novice to produce highly satisfactory results, and which may also be manufactured at moderate cost. a

An additional specific object of this invention is to provide an automatic cheese perforating mechanism, all parts of which are readily acces- 3 Claims. (01. 31-40) sible for inspection and cleaning, which will uniformly perforate successive blocks of cheese without undesirable cracking or splitting, and

i which insures production of perfect perforations or holes in the body of the commodity.

These and other specific obiects and advantages of my invention will be apparent from the following detailed description.

A clear conception of the features constituting the present improvement, and of the mode of constructing and of operating machines embodying the invention, may behad by referring to the drawing accompanying and forming a part of this specification wherein like reference characters designate the same or similar parts in the Fig. 5 is a central vertical transverse section through the same machine, showing acheese in the act of being perforated.

While the invention has been shown and described herein as having been embodied in a machine especially adapted to perforate cylindrical cakes or blocks of blue cheese of a definite size, it is not my desire or intent to unnecessarily restrict the scope of utility by virtue of this limited disclosure.

Referring to the drawing, the improved cheese perforating machine shown therein, comprises in general, a frame or table 1 having four corner posts or legal and a rigid flat top 9. the latter preferably being provided with a lower stainless steel cover plate Iii; four cylindrical upright posts llrigidly secured to the table top 8 and having base collars I! over which the lower plate III is removably slip-fitted; a vertically adjustable horizontal medial plate ll providedwith rigidcollars il slidably adjustable along the posts I I and adapted to be fixed in various positions of adjustment by means of set screws I! carried by,

the collars; a vertically movable top plate or head ll having four corner openings slidably coacting with the posts II, and being cooperable with stop nuts 41 secured to the posts for limiting the upward movement of the head plate N; a plurality of parallel vertically reciprocable cylindrical needles or pins l3 detachably secured at their upper ends to the medial portion of the movable plate I! by means of screw threads i3, and having lower tapered extremities 20 adapted to pass through openings 2i in the medial plate l3 across the gap between this plate and the table top 3 and through alined holes 22 formed in the lower plate II and top 3; parallel vertical resilient guides 23 detachably secured to the posts H within the space between the plates l3, ill; a transverse horizontal driving shaft 24 suspended from the under-side of the table top .9 by bearings 25 and having two laterally spaced similar eccentrics 26 secured thereto; annular straps 21 embracing the eccentrics 26 and having connecting rods 28 pivotally secured to brackets 29 attached to the head plate It by means of cap screws 30; and suitable mechanism for imparting periodic rotary motion to the shaft 24. 1

The table legs 3 and cross pieces 3| may be formed of standard angle iron, and a refuse collecting pan 32 may be slid laterally onto and off of the lower cross braces 3|; and the table top 9 may be firmly but detachably secured to the upper cross braces 3| in any suitable manner, see Fig. l. The stainless steel lower plate I!) may rest by gravity upon the solid table top 9, and the base collars l2 serve to normally maintain this plate III in proper position while permitting the same to be readily lifted away from the top 3 for cleansing purposes. The normally fixed but vertically adjustable medial plate l3. and the guides 23 may also be formedof stainless steel or the like, and the plate l3 should preferably be located as-near to the tops of the cheese blocks 33 as possible, in order to cause the openings 2| therein to most effectively guide the perforating pins l8 into the cheese batches or bodies and to maintain these pins truly parallel during each perforating operation. The guides 23 are adapted to snugly coact with the opposite sides of each of the cylindrical cheese blocks 33 as shown in Fig. 3, and these guides 23 may be caused to coact with the base collars i2 and are detachably secured to the adiacent posts I i by means of spring clips 34, see Figs. 8 and 5.

The upper reciprocable head plate I 6 which is guided for vertical reciprocation by the fixed corner posts II, should be sufllciently rigid to prevent possible deflection, and the perforating needles or. pins it which are of special and improved construction, must be firmly attached to this :head plate I. The pins l3 are preferably formed of, cylindrical stainless steel stock, and are of interchangeably similar construction, being spaced uniformly throughout the major area of the circular cheese cakes or blocks 33, see Figs. 3 and 4. The upper headed end of each perforating pin i2 is rigidly but detachably secured to the upper plate II by means of the screw threads l3, and the lower tapered extremities 20 of the pins I! are blunt but must be accurately centralized with respect to the alined openings 2! and holes 22 of the plates i3, Ill respectively. The diameters of these openings 2| and holes 22 should also be only slightly larger than the diameters of the perforating pins l8, and the outermost of these pins should be located well within the peripheral border portions of the cheese blocks 33 while the inner pins I 8 should not be arranged in radial planes, but should be irregularly disposed. as indicated in Fig. 3. One

cessive cheese blocks 33 with respect to the circular group of pins i3.

Thedriving mechanism for impartingperiodlc rotary motion to the driving shaft 24 and eccentrics 23, may be of any suitable construction, adapted to impart relatively slow rotation to these eccentrics so as to impart harmonic motion to the head plate It and pins i3 thereby causing these perforating pins to slowly enter and leave the blocks 33 but to travel rapidly through the center of the mass of cheese. As shown, the driving mechanism comprises a chain drive 33 adapted to be driven at 'the desired speed from an electric motor or the like through speed reducing gearing, and a clutch 31 operable by a lever 38 pivotally mounted upon the main frame I to drivingly connect the shaft 24 to the chain drive 36, see Figs. 1 and 5. This driving mechanism should preferably be operable to cause the pins i 8 to penetrate each of the properly positioned cheese blocks '33 only once, and the shaft 24 may hereafter be disconnected from its driving source when the head plate It has engaged the upper stop nuts I! in any suitable manner. While the specific driving mechanism which is shown rather diagrammatically in the drawing, has proven highly successful and satisfactory in actual use, any other type of drive adapted to accomplish the desired results, may be substituted for that shown, without departing from the present invention.

During normal operation of my improved cheese perforating machine, the successive circular cheese blocks 33 may be slid along the lower plate l0 between the parallel guides 23 when the shaft 24 and eccentrics 26 are at rest and the pins [8 have been elevated to the position shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The positioning holes 35 in the medial plate l3 may then be utilized to centralize each block 33 with respect to the circular group of perforating pins l8, and whenever a cheese cake has been thus properly positioned, the operating lever 38 may be manipulated to cause the clutch 31 to connect the shaft 24 to the driving power source, whereupon the pins l8 will be forced downwardly through the cheese block 33 and will produce a multiplicity of parallel perforations 40 as illustrated in Fig. 3. During this perforating operation, the openings 2| in the medial plate l3 will maintain the pins is parallel and will cause these pins to move in accurate alinement with the corresponding holes 22 formed in the lower plate In and table top 3; and the cheese cores which are removed by the downwardly advancing pins l3, are deposited by gravity upon the pan 32 from which the accumulation of cores may be periodically removed. While the pins is are advancing through the cheese blocks, the revolving eccentrics 23 will cause the tapered ends 20 of these pins to slowly pierce the top and bottom surfaces of the blocks 33 and to travel faster through the internal zones, and this 'motion obviates undesirable breakage of the blocks of cheese. The tapered ends. 20 .also tend to prevent chipping or breakage at the outer ends of the holes 43 and thus produce smooth and clean perforations, and these tapered ends also compensate for slight bending of the pins i3 thus insuring proper entry of the pins within the lower holes 22. After the a perforating operation is completed, the pins I! will be quickly withdrawn from the holes 40, and returned to the position shown in Figs. 1 and 2, whereupon the rotation of the shaft 24 will be arrested and the upper head plate i6 will stop.

It is to be noted, that slight variations in diameter 0! the successive icheese blocks 33, will be compensated for by the resiliency of the guides 23, and these guides may be readily removed for cleaning. When the guides 23 have 10- been removed, the lower plate l0 may also be lifted away from its positioning collars l2 and thoroughly cleaned, and by removing the cap screws 311, stop nuts I1, and releasing the set screws It, the entire machine may be quickly 1;;

dismantled. The structure may however be just as rapidly reassembled, thus making it possible toinspect and to thoroughly cleanse all portiohs of the mechanism. While the perforating pins II are normally firmly attached to the head plate ID by the screw threads l9, they maybe easily removed for replacement purposes, and since these pins are interchangeably similar, they will fit within any of the threaded sockets in the plate l6. I

From the foregoing detailed description it will be apparent that my present invention provides an improved cheese perforating unit which is simple, compact and durable in construction, and

which is also highly effective in use and conven- 30,

iently operable. All parts of the improved structure are of simple and sturdy construction, and

block 33, and the pins It may either be disposed 40 on circles concentric with the cheese block axes,

or spirally thereabout, but should not be disposed with their axes located'in radial or diametral planes. The improved perforating units have proven highly satisfactory and successful 3 in commercial operation, and may be manufactured from stock such as standard angle irons,

metal plates and bars. at relatively moderate l It should be understood that it is not desired so to limit this invention to the exactdet'ails ofconstruction and operation of the machine herein shown and described, for various modificationswithin the scope of the appended claims-ma! occurtopersonsskilledinthe art. ss

I clilmi Number .Name Date In combinations-support having-rigid up- 167,850 llildren Sept. 21,1015 right posts and a group of holes therein between $55,787 Knowlton Jan. 11, 188"! said posts, slower plate resting upon said support 002,444 Date s Oct. 24, 1005 and having a group of holes registering with said m 1,174,135 Gauvreau Mar. 7, 1916 support h les. i lower plate r sting by gravity 1,813,837 Boland .i. July '1, mi upon said supportand being maintained in posiroman 1mm tion by said posts. guides coasting with said plate and said posts to hold'sucee's'sive cheese blocks Number inpositionoversaid boleaamediaiplateseeured a. 301,052

The improved mechanism by virright posts and a group of holes therein between said posts, a lower plate detachably mounted upon said support and having a group of holes precisely registering with saidsupport holes, said'lower plate being maintained in position by said posts, guides coacting with said plateand said posts to hold successive cheese blocks in position over said holes, a medial plate secured to said posts and having a group of openings in aiinement with said holes, an upper plate slidable along said posts toward and away from said medial. and lower plates, a group of parallel perforating pins carried by said upper plate and having cylindrical medial portions reciprocable within said openings and also having tapered extreme lower ends movable across the space between said lower and medial plates, and means for periodically reciprocating said upper plate along said posts.

8. In combination, a horizontal support having perforations therein, va lower plate detachably mounted upon said support and having a group of holes therein registering with said perfora tions, posts extending upwardly from said support on opposite sides of .said group, a medial plate adiustably secured to said posts and having openings in alinement with said holes, an upper plate slidable along said posts above said medial plate, a group of parallel pins reciprocablewithin said openings and having cylindrical medial portions adapted to snugly slidably engage said holes and being provided with tapered extreme lower ends movable across the space between said support and said medial plate while their upper ends are secured to said upper plate, and means for periodically moving said upper plate to simultaneously' reciprocate said pins.

The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED s'rn'rns PATENTS country Date France. Nov. 32.100! 

